Reckitt make $1.4 billion bid for Schiff Nutrition

6:26 AM, 19th November 2012

Schiff headquarters in Utah, US.

UTAH, US: Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (RB) made a surprise $1.4 billion counterbid for Schiff Nutrition International Inc (SHF), topping an agreed offer from Bayer AG for the maker of vitamins, supplements and nutrition bars. The tender offer of $42 a share in cash will commence on 19 November 2012 said Reckitt Benckiser. The bid is 24 per cent higher than Salt Lake city-based Schiff’s last closing price.

Reckitt Benckiser and Bayer are competing for Schiff’s fast-growing vitamins and nutritional supplements business, which the German drugmaker had sought to add to its consumer- health unit. Leverkusen, Germany-based Bayer agreed last month to buy Schiff for about $1.1 billion.

Schiff rose as much as 30 per cent to $44.19 in extended trading on 17 November 2012, exceeding Reckitt Benckiser’s bid price. The shares rose less than 1 per cent to $33.92 at the close in New York.

“This is not a done deal. There is certainly a possibility that Bayer may announce a counterbid to RB’s offer, even though it would require Bayer eating its words that its current bid is already above what it considered as exceptionally fully valued,” said Andrew Wood, Analyst at Sanford C Bernstein (asset management firm).